Screech! Screech!
Thunderous shrieks echoed in the air alongside the rumbling footsteps, as the horde of goblins quickly approached the place where Viktor and the rest of the team stood on guard. The green creatures looked hideous, with maddened expressions, red bulging eyes, and veins visible underneath their skin. Anyone not used to such creatures would immediately be shocked down to their spine.
"Dont worry! These creatures are weak!" said Viktor knowing these creatures only have 15 battle power. That's just a little above stage one zombie, it should be something his companion can handle.
Viktor declared with confidence to his team. However, he himself has his doubts. The enemies coming after them are around 5 times their numbers, and not all of them are familiar with the battlefield. Anything can happen in this situation.
As Viktor readied himself, the distance between them and the goblins had reduced to around three meters. In that moment, he jumped forward and dashed towards one of the goblins while swinging his axe downward.
Splat!
Thud! Thud!
Caught off guard, the little humanoid creature was instantly split into two parts from its neck to the waist. Its face was frozen in a shocked expression as the two bisected parts fell to the ground, and Viktor was left in awe at the cleaved body and at how easy the axe sliced through it.
The display reminded everyone that although the creatures are not easy on the eyes, they weren't hard to kill at all. Realizing his current strength is more than sufficient, Viktor decided not to use his [Metal Fusion]
Viktor stood in the center, accompanied by Jessie and Boris on both sides. The others decided to stand on the second layer.
Splat! Splat!
Jessie spun and swung her polearms with ease, crushing the goblins' head with one hit. She looked as if she was dancing, as she gracefully dodged the rusty weapons of the goblins and struck them down. Meanwhile, Boris and Torri worked together, with the former providing close-range protection, and the latter sniping the goblins from afar with multiple shots within seconds.
Within a short time, most of the goblins died in the hands of the four of them.
Meanwhile, Kosta and Barry largely tried to stay out of the thick of the battle, and they kept up by killing the stragglers. Meanwhile, Eva and Liza stayed in the middle, still observing the situation.
Splat! Splat!
Fifteen minutes passed, and finally, the corpses of the 40 goblins filled the area. Briefly, runes flashed on the wall, and the corpses turned into motes of light, leaving no trace that there was a fight at all.
Viktor watched the light go up and disappear before Barry shouted at him excitedly.
"Master, I just went up a level!"
Hearing this, Viktor went to check teh information that came out from each of their bracelets.
[Viktor Romanov - Earth Realm level 22 - high stage]
[Jessie Wineberrie - Earth Realm level 30 - high stage]
[Kosta Nenet - Earth Realm level 10 - initial stage]
[Barry Pennyworth - Earth Realm level 2 - initial stage]
[Torri Helsinki - Earth Realm level 2 - initial stage]
[Boris Oslo - Earth Realm level 2 - initial stage]
[Evangeline Amelia Bardott - Earth Realm level 3 - initial stage]
[Vasiliza - Earth Realm level 3 - initial stage]
With just that one battle, many of them got one level increase. Boris, Torri, and Barry got one level, while Eva and Liza got two levels. When they saw the discrepancy, almost everyone looked at each other, their bewilderment evident even without words. The two girls, Eva and Liza, did nothing but watch, but they received two levels increase. Being born talented could easily make people jealous.
He decided to distract them by telling them to advance and fight another group of goblins. They got another easy victory, but this time they received no level increase.
"Continue!"
They went on to defeat another 40-something batch of goblins, and the notification of levelling up was heard again. But none of the stopped, and they charged forward to meet the next challenge.
Viktor couldn't help but notice that even though the goblins are really the lowest level of the bunch of monsters, the outcome of the battles would be drastically different if a group of kids like Barry was the one fighting. In that case, they wouldn't win without a scratch. Fortunately, this group has two ex-special forces fighters and both Viktor and Jessie, fighters who were a cut above others.
It took them a total of almost 4 hours to finally clear the first level challenge, and those who are still at a lower level received another level increase to level 4 except Eva and Liza, who reached level 5. Meanwhile, Jessie, Kosta, and Viktor haven't gained a level at all.
He looked around and saw that the room was empty just like before. He sat down and told the team.
"Alright, we'll have a 10-minute break, then we fight level 2!"
"Yeahh!"
The continuous victory and level increase does feel addictive, and killing easy enemies does give them a boost to their mental health, but he knew that a happy team would not be enough to survive the challenges ahead. He needs his companions to be ready against stronger challenges.
Considering the first level's structure, the second level should be similar. Viktor decided to use this chance to practice his skills and spells.
Viktor started with [Battle art - Strength up].
From the information he got when he bought it, this particular skill was supposed to be what he received at first before he manage to upgrade his reward to the divine skill [All Might]
He immediately activated it, and within a minute, he understood the runes flashing in his mind right as he used the skill. Spirit energy ran from his core throughout his body, activating certain nerve points, before a message appeared in his mind.
[Battle art - Strength up]
[You have received 10 points in battle power]
[You have received 30 points in strength.]
[Strength - 32 (67)]
[Agility - 72]
[Endurance - 48]
[Battle Power - 51 (61)]
The skill was much more amazing than he thought, as its 30 points have almost doubled his strength. He remembered the first time he used [All Might], and he only got 23 points. If he received [strneght up] at that time, it would be a stronger skill. But as this is a basic skill, it only gave him a flat 30 points increase, while his [All Might] divine art would grow the stronger he gets..
On the upside, this skill used less spirit energy. Viktor tried to use it for a while, and he felt that it could go on for 10 minutes before it started to affect his spirit pool. In a prolonged battle, he assumed that it could go all the way up to 20 or 30 minutes before he started to feel tired from it.
Barry and Kosta did some sparring, while Boris and Torri tried out their new skills. While Viktor was busy, they managed to use [Agility Up], causing the two to be able to run as fast as Viktor. Now that he thought about it, Viktor realized that both battle arts wouldn't have any effects on the goblins as they are too slow and too weak, but it is a good idea to test their skills before they really needed to use them. Seeing such amazing skill, Viktor had planned to buy the others the same battle art to increase their fighting power.
Before they knew it, the break was done, and they spent another 4 hours clearing out another 10 groups of goblins, to a total of 500.
When level two was cleared, three people got a level increase; Eva, Liza and Kosta.
[Kosta Nenet - Earth Realm level 11 - middle stage]
[Evangeline Amelia Bardott - Earth Realm level 5 - initial stage]
[Vasiliza - Earth Realm level 5 - initial stage]
Kosta had just passed through the inital stage, and now has advanced into the middle stage. The kid looked so happy that it actually made Barry feel more motivated.
The second level was cleared, and everyone was tired from a whole day of fighting. It could be called more like target practice, as they were killing weak goblin creatures, but they had managed to kill almost a thousand of them in one day, hence they needed to rest.
The group returned to the main hall and rested for a few hours. However, while everyone was resting, Barry decided to continue training his spells. He trained until everyone prepared was awake, and they decided to start level three on the next day.
His training had paid off, for he had managed to cast [Fire Infusion] perfectly. His short sword blazed with an orange-red glow, similar to the glow from the scroll Jessie gave to him. Then, it was Barry's turn to show off to everyone.
"Alright! Time to test the new spells!" Viktor spun his blade once and smiled, clearly happy at his progress.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,
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